GIANTS REPORT / LaTroy Hawkins goes on DL after only five games

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, June 18, 2005

2005-06-18 04:00:00 PDT Detroit -- Five games into his Giants tenure, LaTroy Hawkins has gone on the 15- day disabled list with an irritated nerve in his right elbow, an injury that is not deemed serious, but nonetheless scared the reliever.

"Ever wake up and couldn't feel your fingers? It's very alarming if you've never had it before," Hawkins said. "I was like, 'What the hell?' "

Hawkins makes his first career trip to the DL with an injury he and the Giants insist he did not have when he was acquired from the Cubs three weeks ago.

Head trainer Stan Conte said the ulnar nerve can be irritated in many ways, even by leaning on a table, and the only remedy is rest. Hawkins first felt the numbness while playing catch in Minnesota on Tuesday. An MRI revealed the irritation, but also showed the nerve had not slipped out of position, a condition that requires surgery to repair. Manager Felipe Alou and pitcher Jack Taschner both have had that operation.

Conte said Hawkins will undergo another test in San Francisco next week to ensure the nerve is functioning properly. Hawkins' trip to the DL is retroactive to June 10, which means he will be eligible to return a week from today. However, Conte cautioned these nerves are slow to heal. Meanwhile, Hawkins can't throw or even exercise his pitching arm. He is distressed, particularly because this happened so soon after the trade.

"I talked to Jason Christiansen last night," Hawkins said. "He told me he's been through a few injuries. That cleared my head a little about coming to a new team and not being able to perform. He just told me to get healthy and come back and help us."

Coaching box fallout: Alou and third-base coach Gene Glynn reacted sarcastically to Twins manager Ron Gardenhire's allegation that Glynn was stealing signs from the catcher and relaying them to Giants hitters by bending at the knees when a breaking ball was called. In the fifth inning of Thursday night's 14-7 Giants victory, the umpires, at Gardenhire's request, ordered Glynn and first-base coach Luis Pujols to stay in the coaches' boxes.

"Didn't we score eight runs after that?" said Glynn, who denied relaying signs and said he bends over to relieve stress on his back after two surgeries. "He's wrong, and you can write that. I find it humorous."

Alou noted that an inning after the incident, Twins third-base coach Al Newman left the box to talk to baserunner Glenn Williams before an 0-1 pitch to Luis Rodriguez. The Giants then foiled a suicide squeeze by pitching out and catching Williams in a rundown. Was that a stolen sign?

No, Alou said, "God told me to pitch out. Guys don't usually squeeze on 0- 1. That was not my intelligence. It was God, and the Lord was right."

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